Welcome to SilverBack Shooting Club

I was fortunate to be the only student during today's range session, which gave me quite a bit of valuable one-on-one instruction and coaching. I learned more than I expected, and I wanted to share a few thoughts. I think many of you would find these sessions just as valuable. My hope is that my experience might encourage you to spend a future Saturday at the range soon. 

Tony set up a fabulous drill for us today using a torso target, a life-size silhouette of a human upper body used for tactical training. He took it one step further, dressing the target in a shirt and hat. Please see the attached picture. Underneath the shirt and hat was a paper target that maps internal organs and reveals shot locations. The target presented me as a shooter with an interesting challenge: shoot accurately with little to no post-shot feedback regarding hits. Hopefully you have never needed to find a bullet hole through a shirt from 8 yards away, but it's not easy! My first three shots, 2 to the heart and 1 to the head, were okay but left room for improvement. We did these first 3 shots cold, as those were the first 3 shots of the day. From there, we worked through core marksmanship fundamentals. Here's what I learned. 

My stance looked like I was ready to go 12 rounds in the ring. Not a good everyday, realistic stance for out in public when a threat might suddenly appear. Tony helped me work on my hand position, and I'm surprised at how comfortable yet prepared I could be before my draw. 

Tony has a knack for spotting small habits that shooters don't even realize they're doing. He identified a nervous tick in my grip, so he advised me on how to clean it up. I was readjusting my support hand in low ready, which is bad if the threat re-presents itself. We talked about it, then worked on it, and I believe I can eliminate the habit going forward with practice. The biggest win of the day was Tony's input on my sight picture. He figured out my attention to the front sight was focused on the top of the tritium dot, not the top of the sight. At 8 yards, I was putting my shots 1"-2" high. After additional instruction, my next 3 shots were in the center red circle of the target. 

That was a really big win. We went through trigger pull exercises and monitored follow through. I was pretty good there but the reminder and the discussion helped reinforce the importance of the fundamentals. Back to the torso target, 3 more shots, this time better placed. Tony not giving a "fire" command and instead screaming threats as an active villain - now that's something you have to experience. During one round, I was told the threat wasn't neutralized so 3 more shots were necessary. I was able to get 3 good shots off as a result of refined fundamentals. The simulated stress forced me to think differently and rely on the fundamentals. 

Tony has a modification in mind for next week that will surely test skills and awareness even further. I won't ruin the surprise, but you might want to think about a range visit sometime soon. This was by far my favorite and most productive SilverBack session - thank you, Tony!

– Larry H.